1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to swivel hinge assemblies, and more particularly, to swivel hinge assemblies having integral mounting openings in the body of the swivel hinge assembly and having an interior fluid flow path, so as to provide rotatable motion via integral bearings capable of providing hingable rotation, and a hinge mounting assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
The growth of the computer industry over the past few decades has been phenomenal. The integration of these technologies, for example, in data centers and in telecommunications switching, has lead to greater and greater efficiencies as larger numbers of communications are handled by fewer components, which are typically housed in a central control room. In turn, the power densities of computer systems housed in such central rooms have risen to levels that exceed the capacity of traditional approaches to cooling, thereby creating hot spots within the data center that can reduce the availability of business critical systems.
As is readily apparent, if equipment is not effectively cooled, the internal temperature of the electronic components in the equipment substantially increases, thereby leading to significantly reduced system performance and, in some cases, total system failure. Additionally, if a cooling system inefficiently cools the equipment, either the equipment may fail due to increased operating temperature or the costs for cooling the equipment may be unnecessarily high. What is needed, then, are cooling systems having their cooling characteristics closely tailored to the heating characteristics of the equipment to be cooled.
In designing such cooling systems, there is inherently the realization that there is a premium on space in such computer room environments which is matched by this increasing need for cooling capacity. One alternative has been to move the cooling systems into the ceiling such that the cooling coils, fans and a portion of an enclosed room form an enclosed space behind the cooling coils and fans that is then used as a plenum for returning the cooling fluid to the proximal location of the object to be cooled. Alternatively, the cooling system can be moved into the floor such that the cooling coils, fans and a portion of an enclosed room form an enclosed area behind the cooling coils and fans that is then used as a plenum for returning the cooling fluid to the area to be cooled. Cooling coils and fans can be added as necessary to fully enclose the space behind the cooling coils and fans.
Another approach includes the use of rack-mounted cooling systems that are capable of delivering focused, efficient, high-capacity supplemental cooling while simultaneously leaving valuable data center floor space unconsumed. While certain OEM cooling applications would benefit from having rack-mounted cooling systems, such as a cooling coil, mounted on the backside of a hardware rack, traditional mounting methods would subsequently preclude access to the equipment from the backside due to the fixed position of the coil, making any necessary access to the equipment costly both in terms of time and money, as well as resulting in potential down time for the equipment system.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an assembly which allows for the integral, rotatable mounting of a door having a cooling assembly mounted thereon to a face of a hardware rack, while simultaneously allowing for continuous fluid flow within the assembly and fluid communication between the cooling assembly and the equipment within the hardware rack. This application for patent discloses an integral, rotatable swivel hinge assembly.